Does Facebook lead to divorce? We have discussed several recent studies looking for a link between social media sites like Facebook and divorce. The studies have not found any conclusive link, but here is one that supports an association between the two – a survey out of the United Kingdom found that 33 percent of divorces in 2011 listed Facebook as the reason for the divorce.

These were the three top reasons for Facebook’s role in divorces in the UK:

Inappropriate messages sent to Facebook friends of the opposite sex

Facebook friends’ reporting to a spouse that his or her partner was acting inappropriately on Facebook

Mean online comments from a spouse about his or her partner in the time between separation and formal divorce

Facebook is of course not the only social media site playing a role in breaking up relationships – a handful of survey respondents also listed Twitter as causing a divorce. The issue that these surveys always raise is this: are social media sites themselves causing divorce, or are spouses doing things they would have done even if such sites did not exist at all?

There will probably never be a clear answer to that question, but one practical thing that couples can take away from these divorce/online activity surveys is that they need to be careful about their online activity. Family law judges and ex-spouses are now regularly using online activity as evidence for issues like child support, child custody and divorce settlement. The last thing a spouse wants is to have his or her life seriously impacted because of a 100-word Facebook posting.

What impact has social media had on your relationships? Did it come into play in your divorce case?